Go Wars
by Laziness Incarnate
Summary: On the planet Tokyooine, our young hero Shindou Hikaru is happily ignorant of the evil Institute and its nefarious grip on the galaxy's Go. Until one day he meets a ghost of the Old Republic... on hold Written for the fourth blind go challenge on LJ.


**Go Wars**

_A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..._

_A war of epic proportions was fought_

_In which old heroes were slain,_

_New warriors emerged,_

_And hardened villains were moved to redemption._

_Too bad you're reading_

_A completely different story._

- 0 - 0 -

A white star destroyer glided through space like a silent, deadly shark. It was sleek and beautiful and really, really cool. Its prey, a tiny black spacecraft, wriggled uselessly in the grasp of its tractor beam.

Meanwhile, somewhere, someone was playing Go.

- 0 - 0 -

On the desert planet Tatooine, a young man stood upon a hill and looked upon the twin suns of his world. He longed for freedom, for glory, for a chance to make a difference. He would soon get his wish. The wind swished artfully through his sun-bleached hair.

But that's neither here nor there. Let's look instead at a far more interesting desert planet, Tokyooine, where a boy named Shindou Hikaru was sitting in his living room in front of a goban. He longed for freedom, for his comic books, for a chance to play some video games before dinner. He was so not getting his wish if his grandfather had anything to say about it. He ran his hands through his chemically bleached hair in annoyance.

"Go is stupid," said Hikaru.

Grandpa glared at him from across the board. "You're not even trying."

"Why bother? There's no point to this."

"No point?" Grandpa started using his lecturing voice as Hikaru groaned internally. "Go is the most revered game in the galaxy. In fact it's not just a game, it's the heart and soul of civilized society! I want you to learn how to play it properly so when the Institute comes calling you'll be able to beat them back to the edge of the galaxy like they deserve."

"The Institute won't be coming to this burnt-up rock of a planet," Hikaru yawned.

Grandpa sighed wearily. "Let's pack up for today. But," he said sternly, upon seeing Hikaru's face light up, "we'll start up again tomorrow right after you get home from school."

"Yay."

- 0 - 0 -

At dinner, Grandpa still wouldn't shut up about Go.

"Hikaru hasn't been paying attention at all," Grandpa told Hikaru's mother, who listened politely. "The boy's got potential, he just doesn't apply himself."

"He doesn't apply himself to school either."

"Can I buy the new _Droid Invaders game_ that came out last week, mom?" Hikaru butted in.

"You got eight percent on your last Astromechanics test, dear. No."

"But mom, _Droid Invaders_ will help me on Astromechanics. It totally will."

"We have no money this month."

"Huh, speaking of money, that reminds me," said Grandpa. "I've got an old goban that might be worth something. It's at least a couple hundred years old."

"How much could an old relic like that be worth?" Hikaru asked around a mouthful of beans.

"Oh, some of them are worth three million or more."

Hikaru spat out his beans. "You're kidding me."

"Yeah, I'm kidding you. My goban is probably worth around five hundred thousand."

"Five hundred thousand? You could still buy a land cruiser with that! And all for a block of wood!"

"A block of wood?" growled Grandpa. "You don't call a goban a block of wood, my young Padawan."

"What's a Padawan? And why don't you sell the board if it's worth that much?"

"I'm definitely not selling off such a rare antique! Damn thing's supposed to be haunted anyway."

"If it's haunted then you should get rid of it."

"Nice try. You'll have to get a job if you want money for your lousy video games, kiddo."

Hikaru's mother placidly dropped more beans on both of their plates. "Hikaru's too young to legally get a job."

"Guess it's settled then," said Grandpa. "No game for you."

Hikaru sulked as he finished his beans. But the gears were turning in his head.

- 0 - 0 -

"Are you sure about this?"

Hikaru stopped digging in the sand for a moment to give his friend Akari a thumbs-up. "My grandpa won't miss a thing. You know my parents cut off my allowance again?"

"You did get eight percent on our last Astromechanics test." Akari sighed heavily, causing the flashlight in her hand to wave around.

"Hold the light steady, will you? I can't see."

"Honestly, Hikaru, I don't know how you're going to make it into the Academy at this rate."

Hikaru made a face. "Who says I want to go to the Academy?"

"Not go to the Academy?" said Akari, aghast. "But...you love spaceships!"

"And I hate studying. The Academy is for keeners."

"I'm going to the Academy," she said, her cheeks flushed. "I want to...fight against the Institute. Don't you want to, too"

But Hikaru had far more interesting things on his mind. "Hey, I think I found it!" With some difficulty, he hauled the large wooden box he'd uncovered out of the sand.

"That's a goban, isn't it?" said Akari. "But I thought you weren't interested in Go? You always complain about your grandpa forcing you to play."

"I'm not gonna play on it," Hikaru replied absentmindedly. He studied the surface of the goban intently. "Hey, what's with the stains on it?

"Stains?"

"Yeah." Hikaru pointed at a couple places on the board. "Here, and here. Looks like blood."

Akari gave him a bewildered look. "I don't see anything."

"Are you blind? They're right there!"

_You can see it?_

"That's what I've been saying!"

"What?" said Akari.

_Can you hear my voice?_

"Of course I can hear you, you're right next to me," said Hikaru.

_You can hear my voice, can't you? You can. You can._

Hikaru's head snapped up in realization. That wasn't Akari's voice. He grabbed the light from her and flashed it around wildly, but he could only see Akari, whose eyes were wide and frightened.

"Akari, there's someone here. Might be a Sand Person. Run," he told her flatly.

_The Force is strong in this one, isn't it? I thank you, all-powerful God._

"I'm not leaving you here alone if there's Sand People!" Akari's voice quavered.

Hikaru called out into the night, "Who's there! Show yourself!"

_As you wish._

And then there were bright lights and warm winds spreading through the darkness, surrounding him, and he was almost sure he could see a human figure with long silky hair and a really ridiculous hat emerging from under a cloth made of pure whiteness, and for a moment everything was white, white, white before it all just went black.

- 0 - 0 -

The first thing Hikaru thought when he woke up was _I really want to play Go_, which wasn't his kind of thought at all and totally freaked him out.

"Eaargh!" he yelled, sitting up suddenly and giving himself whiplash. "Eeoow!"

"Good morning," said an unfamiliar voice. An unfamiliar voice _inside his head_.

Hikaru looked up very, very slowly. There was a strange man in his room. And not just strange in the sense of I-have-no-idea-who-this-is. No, the stranger was screaming strangeness from the tip of his ridiculous hat (Hikaru recognized that hat!) down to the old-fashioned hemming of his heavy white robes, which were completely inappropriate for the desert by the way. And, and, what the hell, Hikaru realized he could see right through the man. Through the ghost.

"I'm sorry," the ghost said cheerfully. "I didn't mean to frighten you. My name is Fujiwara no Sai. You have been chosen by the Force of Go, young one, to become my Padawan."

"Uhhh..." said Hikaru.

"Maybe I should start from the beginning. A long time ago, I was a Go Master for the Emperor. But I was cruelly banished from the capital when-"

"Agh!" Hikaru shouted suddenly. "It's already nine! I'm late for school!"

"But I'm not done talking yet," whined Sai.

Hikaru's habitual mad dash to get ready for school every morning was so deeply ingrained in him that he could do it perfectly well even with a freakish ghost watching him.

"I just need to put on my socks and grab my books and then-hey, what's this?" There was a piece of paper taped to his bedroom door.

_Dear Hikaru,_

_Akari was kind enough to call for help when you fainted last night. The doctor said you must have gotten heat stroke from all the digging you were doing. I've decided to let you stay home from school today since you seem genuinely unwell. But you're still grounded for trying to sell Grandpa's goban. I'll be at work and Grandpa is at the market. Call me if you need anything._

_Love, Mom_

"Jeez, I can really feel the love," said Hikaru.

"She was very worried about you last night," Sai commented, coming up beside him. "Well, until she saw my goban for some reason. Then she was just mad. So you don't have school today?"

"No, but...oh man, this is weird." Hikaru sank down on his bed. "Okay, explain yourself. What's the Force of Go?"

"The Force of Go," said Sai, "is what gives us power on the goban. It surrounds us and penetrates us."

"Sounds kind of perverted."

"It binds the galaxy together," said Sai loudly. "It always has been and always shall be."

Hikaru groaned. "Unbelievable. You're a Go maniac too. It's always about Go, isn't it? That's why I don't want to go to the Academy."

"What's the Academy?"

"You don't know? Aren't you supposed to be a Go nut?"

Sai's face fell and it looked like he was about to cry, so Hikaru hurried on to explain about the Academy. "You learn to be a star pilot there. For some reason they teach the students how to play Go too, for tactics or something. But I already know how to fly a ship, so I don't need lessons. Sometimes when Mom and Grandpa are out I take their speedster out for a spin."

Sai the most confused look on his face that Hikaru had ever seen. "Pilot? Speedster?"

"You really are from a long long ago in a galaxy far far away, aren't you," said Hikaru, gesturing at Sai's distinctive clothes.

"It's been two hundred years since I last visited the land of the living. A lot has changed, I suppose. But...Go is still played, then? Do you know how to play?"

"I know a little, but I don't like it."

"You don't like Go!" exclaimed Sai. "But you can't not like Go! Everyone likes Go! It's the-"

"The best thing ever since flux capacitors, the heart and soul of civilized society, I know."

"How will you become my Padawan if you don't like Go? There must have been a mixup," said Sai, brow furrowed in consternation.

"What is this Padawan thing?"

"A Padawan," Sai explained patiently, "is a student of the Force of Go. Since I am a Go Master, it is my duty to train a Padawan and pass on my skills. Some Go Masters," Sai grimaced slightly, "only seek to improve their own Go and do not nurture weaker players. They only seek to defeat them and humiliate them. But I am not like them. I am quite fond of teaching, actually."

"Huh, that's great and all," said Hikaru, "but I'm just not interested in Go."

"It's not just about you," Sai replied sharply, his whole demeanor suddenly more forceful. "I'm searching for something. I have been searching my entire life."

"What? Hikaru asked, curious despite himself. He couldn't help but be drawn in by Sai's intensity.

"The Hand of God," said Sai. "The perfect hand of Go. I must play as many strong opponents as possible so that I may become stronger and reach my goal. And I need your help to do it. I cannot lay the stones myself." He raised one pale, insubstantial hand to prove his point.

Hikaru laughed. "Well, even if I did want to help you, you're out of luck. This is a backwater little planet. My grandpa's the best Go player you'll find around these parts, and he's not even very good by galactic standards. It's not like strong players are gonna show up and ring the doorbell-"

The doorbell rang.

Sai gave Hikaru a look of triumph.

"Oh, don't be stupid," said Hikaru as he pushed himself off the bed. "It's probably just Grandpa back from the market. He always forgets his keys."

He left the bedroom and made his way to the front door, Sai trailing behind him. Really, what did the ghost want him to do? It wasn't like he could hop aboard a star cruiser to challenge Go players across the galaxy. Even if he had the money, he wouldn't just leave Mom and Grandpa like that. Speaking of Grandpa, why couldn't he remember his keys for once?

But when Hikaru flung the front door open, it wasn't Grandpa standing there. It was a girl he'd never seen before. She wore a white dress and her coal black hair was caught up in a pair of silly-looking buns on either side of her head. She leaned heavily on the doorframe, obviously exhausted, but her eyes were bright and intelligent. She spoke in a raspy, surprisingly deep voice, "Help me, Honinbou Shuusaku. You're my only hope."

And then she slumped to the ground in a dead faint.

- 0 - 0 -

Author's notes:

This fic was written for the fourth blind_go challenge on Livejournal in September 2007.

Unfortunately, this fic is **on hold**. Sorry, I'm not feeling inspired to continue it right now!


End file.
